Safety guidelines of ultimate hull girder strength for grounded container ships

• Safety guidelines for grounded container ships are proposed.
• Probable grounding damages have been considered by using Latin hypercube sampling technique.
• R–D (residual strength versus damage index) diagrams for container ships were established.
• Upper limit of GDI (grounding damage index) for the safety assessment is proposed.
• Four types of container vessel are applied to establish the R–D diagram.

Various accidents commonly occur on operating ships. The structural damage caused by such accidents is often accompanied by casualties and serious pollution. In this regard, an accidental risk-based approach that is in line with the Goal Based Standard (GBS) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is being developed in the literature. In this paper, the residual ultimate longitudinal strength versus grounding damage index diagram (R–D diagram) for container ships is established as per the method of Paik et al. (2012). The proposed R–D diagram should be useful for defining acceptance damage criteria and making rapid salvage plans or rescue schemes for container ships that have sustained a grounding accident.